House Majority Leader: Teachers Get Second Jobs to Buy Boats

Yesterday House Majority Leader John Allen (LD15) said Arizona teachers should have two jobs. While on the House Floor debating SB1042, the teacher de-certification bill, Representative Allen said of teachers working two jobs, “Most of us in this room have a second job. Good for them… That’s America. The idea that we are somehow torturing somebody if they have a second job is just ridiculous. And they have a long summer. What a great opportunity for people like us and teachers to go out and get a second job. Let’s all get a second job this summer.”

Today he doubled down on that statement in The Yellowsheet Report saying, “They’re making it out as if anybody who has a second job is struggling. That’s not why many people take a second job. They want to increase their lifestyles. They want to improve themselves. They want to pay for a boat. They want a bigger house. They work hard to provide themselves with a better lifestyle. Not everyone who takes a second job does it because they’re borderline poverty.”

Allen went on to blame teachers for going into the profession because they know it’s a low-paying job, and school boards for not raising teacher pay.

“Majority Leader Allen is clearly out of touch with everyday people and the struggles of Arizona teachers. Show me a teacher who can afford a boat and I’ll show you a Republican politician who cares about education. Teachers aren’t getting second jobs to buy boats or fancy houses. They’re paying rent and bills. They’re buying groceries. They’re even buying school supplies for students out of their own pockets. Majority Leader Allen can try and blame teachers and schools for making teaching a low-paying job, but at the end of the day the fault rests squarely on the backs of the Republican Legislature and Governor Ducey for not adequately funding our schools,” said Josselyn Berry, Executive Director of ProgressNow Arizona.

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